Ah, but which official order?
C.S. Lewis delayed some or one book in the Narnia series. The publisher originally had them in his order.
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Prince Caspian
- The Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Horse and his Boy
- The Magician's Nephew
- The Last Battle
It was a boxed set I had (still have) and that was the order on the back of the box. The individual books were not numbered. The suggested reading order was both C.S. Lewis's order and also the order they were published, but not the order they were written!
I read them in that order and then the second time I read them in internal chronological order, which is what the publisher uses now, with numbers on the books.
- The Magician's Nephew
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and his Boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
This in purely internal chronological order and not the order they were written, or published, or desired by Lewis!
Many years later I understood Lewis's order. The publisher was in sense wrong to later change it. It's reasonable to read in internal Chronological order or any order on re-reading.
Another example is the Wolves/James III series of alternate history by Joan Aiken (some of the series neither have wolves nor James III). There is an extra book set in the same alternate history not part of the series, I think, "Midnight is a Place".
I checked Wikipedia
Quote:
Main "Wolves Chronicles" series- The Whispering Mountain (1968), a prequel to the series
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (featuring Bonnie Green, Sylvia Green and Simon) (1962)
- Black Hearts in Battersea (featuring Dido Twite and Simon) (1964)
- Nightbirds on Nantucket (Dido Twite) (1966)
- The Stolen Lake (Dido Twite) (1981)
- Limbo Lodge (U.S. title: Dangerous Games) (Dido Twite) (1999)
- The Cuckoo Tree (Dido Twite) (1971)
- Dido and Pa (featuring Dido and Is Twite) (1986)
- Is (U.S. title: Is Underground) (Is Twite) (1992)
- Cold Shoulder Road (Is Twite) (1995)
- Midwinter Nightingale (featuring Dido Twite and Simon) (2003)
- The Witch of Clatteringshaws (featuring Dido Twite and Simon) (2005)
Related novels
Midnight Is a Place (1976)
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That order is more or less internal chronology and actually Joan Aiken's recommended order, if you were starting after 1999 (when Limbo Lodge was published). However it wasn't the order you got reading them as they were published. She didn't have C.S. Lewis's luxury.
Midnight Is a Place seems to occur sometime between 3 and 9 on internal time line. She apologised for The Witch of Clatteringshaws (pub 2005!) being short, but didn't want it to be like Edwin Drood. She died in 2004.
So you only had a problem with the Series order if you started reading before Limbo Lodge was published in 1999.
Then there is L.E. Modesitt's Recluce series. Maybe there is a recommended order, I didn't look. Internal order and publishing order are unrelated, but unlike "Wolves Chronicles" reading in internal chronological order is problematical.
In your own library, Calibre managed or not, you can have any order you like, but a site like Goodreads should have:
- Authors recommended order, if exists.
- Order first published.
- Publisher's current recommended order, if different.
Most series are simple and one order works.
Any sub-series are only official if the books have that as subtitles, or the author says so, or the publisher says so, otherwise it should in an additional information section. I think with Discworld the three official series are the main books, The Science of series and the Tiffeny Aching Books with also some standalone such as Maurice and his Amazing rodents.
Obviously people can read in any order they want.